Perfect Pants (Trouser Try-On Reveal!)

Yes, by "perfect" I'm talking about my daughter's RTW toddler pants above--the perfectly adjustable kind with the magical internal buttonhole elastic which holds them up over perfectly adorable toddler rear ends.

"Perfect" also describes my Imaginary Happy Pants, which:

1. Hit at the natural waist or nearly so, leaving no ridiculous stretch-mark revealing gap between shirt and pants
2. Have a comfortable, yet firm contour waistband with an invisible hint of elastic in the back
3. Never fall down (but don't require a belt or belt loops--metal belt buckles give me a rash)
4. Don't sag below my flat rear
5. Make my flat rear look bigger/rounder
6. Hold in, yet don't bind the tummy (I will admit to being forever spoiled by the perfect magic of stretchy comfy tummy paneled maternity pants).
7. Give me the sudden and mysterious desire to sing out loud with joy and dance on rooftops.

Unfortunately, "perfect" does not yet describe my ACTUAL pants, which I basted together and tried on in the dark navy corduroy fashion fabric for the first time last night:

By the time I realized I should have also attached the waistband and pressed in the pleats and carefully pinned up the cuffs if I wanted to actually learn anything about fit from this exercise, it was long past time for bed. Remember, here's the intention:

I do realize that these loose-fitting trousers are definitely not going to accomplish Imaginary Happy Pants Goal #5 above--when asked for his assessment, my husband cautiously answered that, if anything, they make things look even flatter back there. But at this point I'm not going to mess with adding back pockets for padding. Maybe next version (if there is a next version).

Oh, and if you're wondering why these pants still aren't done well enough already, well, let me give you a brief window into a typical sewing session for me... The Sew Weekly this ain't!:

9:15 p.m.Enter MIKHAELA, our dashing Polka Dot protagonist, tiptoeing carefully from nursery and closing door.

TODDLER Z: (barely audible from nursery whispering quietly and sleepily to dolls in crib--her stuffed purple doggie and the glowworm she has arbitrarily named "Nu-Nu") Doggie! Nu-Nu! Doggie... Nu-Nu...

MIKHAELA rushes frantically around apartment setting up various sewing equipment--opening sewing cabinet in bedroom, setting up iron in living room and cutting/work area on dining table, getting out assorted rulers, rotary cutters, cutting mats, patterns, fabric, notions, tools... kitchen sinks... etc. TODDLER Z is now silent, presumably sleeping.

Finally, an exhausted MIKHAELA sits down at work (dining) table, stares at pattern pieces, sighs dramatically, realizes she has no idea how to assemble a fly front, pulls out five reference manuals, discovers fly front on her pattern appears to be backwards, begins to read/weep with frustration and...

9:30 p.m. TODDLER Z: (loudly, from nursery) MOMMY! MOMMY! Hi! Hi! Mommy! Hi!

Yeah. Helpful tips for time-pressed sewers don't even begin to cover it! It took me TWO nights to cut them out (and I still haven't cut out the waistband facing, because I haven't decided how to finish it) and THREE nights just to insert the fly zipper. Really, I've discovered the most helpful tip of all is just lowered expectations. I just have to accept the fact that at this point in my life I'm not going to sew a garment a week, or tailor an amazing wool coat, or make a boned couture-inspired ballgown... er...

Goals do help, though. So I'm setting myself a quite-reasonable goal of one me-made garment for myself and one me-made garment for the toddler per month, for a total of 24 for the year--a reasonable portion of which I hope to become TNT patterns. And I'm looking ahead to events that might require fancy dressing (weddings, parties, etc.) and thinking about what I might sew for those to give myself plenty of lead time. So I'll maybe do up a planning post soonish...

I also think I might cut back on the muslins, since they take so long and I don't need to work around a preggo belly anymore. I need to attack my stash anyway--I might try more pin-fitting and fashion-fabric tweaking and testing items in wearable but not precious fabric, which is what I've always done with knits anyway with mostly happy results.

I mean, seriously--I've actually never made a test garment that didn't fit better than most ready-to-wear, so what do I have to lose? For example, what's the point of muslining my upcoming Franken-Colette dress in non-stretchy muslin when I'm making the real thing from stretch cotton? I should just use a less precious stretch cotton, no?

But I digreess. The pants end is near... and I'm getting excited to actually wear these things to work in the forseeable future. Fingers crossed!